The witches will go out on the hunt once more to terrorize the town of Salem, Massachusetts. After the success of the sequel, Disney announces that Hocus Pocus will have a third part that is already in development.

Through an article in The New York Times, Walt Disney Studios Motion Picture Production president Sean Bailey confirms that the third part of the adventures of the Sanderson sisters, who returned in 2022 after 29 since the premiere of the original film which had already become a Halloween classic for The House of Mouse.

In the 1993 movie, Max Dennison (Omri Katz) frees witches trapped in an abandoned house, whom he must stop by appropriating their spellbook before they achieve immortality. In the sequel, the group is brought back to the real world once more, and they seek revenge for all the years they've been trapped.

In the post-credits scene of the 2022 movie, Gilbert the cat finds a box with the label “BF Candle”, which are the candles that are used to bring the witches back if it gets lit by a virgin on Halloween’s Eve under a full moon. So, the possibility of a third part was already there.

Hocus Pocus stars Bette Midler as Winifred "Winnie" Sanderson, Sarah Jessica Parker as Sarah Sanderson, Kathy Najimy as Mary Sanderson, and Sam Richardson as Gilbert. The first movie was directed by High School Musical director Kenny Ortega, and the sequel by Anne Fletcher (The Proposal).

Pirates of the Caribbean is Another Priority for Disney

Hocus Pocus isn't the only franchise that Disney is looking to revive. In fact, in the world of horror and comedy, the studio will soon be releasing a new version of Haunted Mansion, based on the popular theme park ride and could easily become a new saga. But there is still a lot more to come.

In the same article, Bailey confirmed that one of the studio's priorities is to restart the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise, another of the great successes they have had bringing their attractions to the screen:

“We think we have a really good, exciting story that honors the films that have come before but also has something new to say.”

The first part of the saga, Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl was released in 2003 and since then, the story has spanned a total of six films. But, due to the conflicts surrounding Johnny Depp, no new stories have been developed. For some time now, rumors of a sixth installment that works as a reboot have been present, but there is no confirmed project other than the studio's intentions to continue exploiting one of the sagas that has worked best for them in the last 20 years.

When asked about the possibility of Depp returning to play Jack Sparrow in any upcoming project, Bailey answered:

“Noncommittal at this point.”